Bouquets of Fun

Some of our creations bunched together. 

When my grandmother was in from Mexico and my aunt from Arkansas, one night we all got together for a girls night. In this girls night we were supposed to be doing lashes and girly things. Well, we did get around to those girly things, but something else remarkable happened.

Earlier that day, I had gone to lunch with my mom, aunt and grandmother, who we call "Mother." My mom brought up an idea I had mentioned a while back about getting a bouquet made out of broaches and/or fabric. Well of course, being the creative family we all are, we decided we could take it on as a project and build it ourselves. So, we decided to take advantage of our girls night and star making my wedding bouquet. 

My mom and I followed their advice on what types of fabric to buy, and we found alot of different textures and color...yes, I said color. We even have a splash of the wedding-taboo color black in the bouquet. 

My grandmother is practically a genius when it comes to making flowers and crafty things like that. My aunt Debbie also remembered my grandfather Lio's mom used to make "handmade lace" or "crochets." She was able to find some of it stored away, and we made bouquet flowers out of it too. It was a whole mess of fun, and while I don't have a finished product yet, I have all the flowers thanks to all the ladies of my family. 

We all sat down and created our own masterpiece. It was certainly a memory I will never forget. 

When it comes time to marry Josh, not only will I be assured I have my family's blessing and support, but also a piece of them will be up there at the altar with me. And when I get the bouquet preserved, I know I will forever have that to cherish. 

Here are some photos of the unfinished product, i'll post finished photos later:

Two of aunts, mom and mother all hard at work.

Cousin Gregory and Aunt Yvonne.

The beginnings of one of Mother's beautiful flowers.

How fun does this look!

Hard work, determination and lots of laughter

More flower making :)

Many jokes and fun stories filled our night.

My mom showing off her handmade beauty.

My Aunt Yvonne's beautiful lacy flower.

Perfect little flowers and the mess behind it.

Mi Familia

Lord, prepare me for marriage

Before I moved to Austin, I never had a great example of what makes a good marriage. I never had the solid foundation of unconditional love, and so, I’m very scared. I know I can do this, and I know I’m in love, but what is unconditional love? and how does marriage make use of it? 

Since moving to Austin, I’ve done a lot, but one thing I do daily is observe. I soak it all in like a sponge, hoping to wring out all the good observations over my life. The same holds true for marriage. Though I’ve only been here six years, I’ve observed the marriage of my new mom and dad, my friends and other newly-acquainted family. I look for the little nugget that keeps their marriage going and take it in. I hope after the wedding that I can use those nuggets as tools for my own marriage. 

I value tradition but I don’t have any of my own, yet. I never grew up with them. I hope to start a family of my own and make our own traditions. I’d like to change the way marriage is viewed in my previous family. I can only pray that I can reverse it all and become successful. One of my biggest fears is being doomed from the beginning, being doomed by my previous life. 

Luckily I know if I have faith, pray and trust in God these observations, hopes and dreams can one day come true. I hope on our Wedding Day that I can stop living in fear that this is all a dream - all of it: Austin, my new family, my love - and awaken as a person reborn, just as the day I was baptized and made my life-long commitment to follow the Lord. This is my prayer. If you’re reading this, I’d love your prayers too. Thank you.

Save the DATE!

After looking through many ideas and getting overwhelmed my mom and I decided to go with an idea we found online using MOO cards and rustic cardstock. The idea was genius...with a few personal touches, we made it our own. Here's a look at the inspiration behind the idea.

Now, we'll start with the finished product:

And I could've never put it together without the help of my mom and Deanna. We spent a whole week just assembling them. So when you get them in the mail, I hope you love 'em!

Here's how it started (Actually....we added the stamp so it was even plainer than this) :

Precisely cutting each strand for each card:

We stamped the cardstock and the envelope with the colors you see below...the white roll is glue dots, which we used to secure the photos and twine:

My mother putting the final creation on display:

This was only half done, but you get the idea:

Cheers to more wedding projects and making each part of the wedding even more special.

Gone to be an Angel

My hiatus from blogging is over. I'm back in full swing, but not without explaining myself first.

My dearest Meme passed away a couple of Sundays ago. It's been difficult to deal with, but all-in-all I'm coping. My sweet, beautiful hero is now looking down on me from Heaven with my dad and grandfather, Papa. It still makes me cry. I told Josh I don't want to get over it because I don't want to forget, but to be honest, you never forget a woman like Meme.

She was loving, generous and loyal. She also never put up with nonsense. She'd always say, "that's silly," and If she saw me crying right now, she'd say the same. 

Her funeral was open-casket, but I couldn't go up and see her because I knew it would send me into uncontrollable tears. I'd swear I've seen her casket in a dream. It was almost all how I would've envisioned. I just wish they would've played her favorite hymn, "Just As I Am," I wish I could've said something and most of all, I wish she was still here. 

My heart hurts everyday, but I hide it. I feel lost without her. Since her death I've been so overwhelmed with feelings I don't even know what to do. I feel like nothing is right. 

But she'd rather have her legacy live on through my better actions and through the lives of those she so dearly touched. So I have to be strong and I have to try. I promise to try to live each day to the fullest and show more love to people in my life. I miss you Meme. 

Reliving the Big Day

It's never too soon to talk about reliving the big day,  and it’s no secret I LOVE video. In my opinion the best way to relive something is through film.  

I’m by no means saying I’m good at it, but I have this vision of making a documentary of our wedding. I’ve always wanted to make a documentary that would make a difference for people. Granted, the only people this video would make a difference or really affect is our closest family and friends, but it’s a great place to start.

Well, I’ve been looking into videographers and gah...they’re expensive, but I have some options thanks to my brother Seth, my friend Jenn and this website I found. 

So where do we go from here? Seth suggests hiring a UT film student to take it on as their project. Jenn, so sweetly, offered to shoot and edit it herself, though I’m not sure she knew I was thinking documentary style. Then there’s this website called Wedit. It’s a good affordable option and what’s cool about it is you order this package where they send you about five flip cameras that you leave out, similar to the camera on the table option. You let the guests capture your big day and then send the cameras back to the company and they edit it for you with your input.

So now I’m still left with the question...what to do? Thoughts?

Here's some sample videos from Wedit, but seriously, share your feedback with me.

He said YES!

Meet Dave Haney

I’m so excited to announce we have our wedding preacher and he’s the one we’d hoped for all along! Dave Haney is a very special person. He doesn’t know me yet, but I’ve been listening and soaking up every word he’s said since I first started going to church at Riverbend. I kept going because of his messages. They’ve always spoken to my heart, brought me laughter and even tears. 

You can tell God works wonders through this man. I can not even express how Happy and Excited I am about him marrying Josh and me! 

When Josh and I first began dating we went to this church...since then we’ve tried other churches trying to find where we best fit, thinking maybe Riverbend was too big. But we always kept coming back to Riverbend. We always come away being moved by the message and it’s so special to us.

Josh called the church a couple of weeks ago and we were told to wait because he was on vacation. He was also told another preacher typically does weddings not Dave, but being the stubborn people we are, we decided to wait and hear that from the man himself, biting our nails and praying about it everyday. Monday is when Josh got a call from the church and he was told HE SAID YES! Josh called me at work and told me the good news and I almost broke down crying. 

We’re so grateful and blessed and we can’t wait for our big day. Thanks for saying yes Dave and giving us so much joy! Thanks Josh for making these dreams of mine a reality!

Call it a theme or what have you

I don't have colors, I guess you can say i'm more of a theme visionary than a color-nazi. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for people who can see color and know how to do it right. It's just not for me.

At first I was struggling between the themes of winter rustic and spanish elegance.

One day after talking to my mom and my cousins I decided to try and blend them both together. That's when my mom suggested the beautiful peacock. It's funny because at first I thought no birdcages, no birds, but the more I thought of the idea of a peacock, I kept getting more and more excited at the different ways I could incorporate it into a theme. So, when people ask me what's your theme or what look are you going for...my reply is Spanish Rustic with Peacock flairs. I haven't ever gotten a head turned sideways or a what's that mean so I think that is a good sign I nailed the description right on the head. If you're left puzzled let me share some pictures to give you a vision of what's in my head. :)

For your viewing pleasure:

Be sure to check me out on Pinterest to see more ideas Click Here. Also, I know I haven't been good at keeping up on the posts, but i'll get better :) See you soon!

The way I see it..

Not to be completely outdone, I'd like to share with you a little bit of my side of this story Kevyn is telling (and doing an awesome job.. I love her). First of all, when she told you about the day we met she got most of the story just right, but she doesn't know exactly what I was thinking. So let me tell you. I was sitting in a booth at Chuy's in their "waiting area" when she walked in. About an hour earlier, my friends had told me they were inviting a girl to dinner with us, and to be honest I didn't have that high of expectations. They told me her name (a boy's name I thought) and that they had met her at a church camp (not typically the ideal spot for finding hotties). So, we were just sitting there eating chips and salsa when she walked in and I didn't have a care in the world. I'll never ever forget the first time I saw her. She literally took my breath away. She was wearing what looked like a racing jacket and blue jeans and her blond hair was beautiful. I'm pretty sure I went from non-stop talking (probably about sports, movies, boating, fishing.. guy stuff.. etc. ) to dead silent. I was not expecting her. I managed to ask her a few question through out the evening like "have you ever had a boom boom chicken enchiladas?" and "do you like the Cowboys".. you know.. real smooth questions, but I wasn't my typical self. I knew something special had happened that night, and I now know what it was. I met my soulmate.

Kevyn is my best friend. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and there isn't anything in the whole world I wouldn't give up for her. Everywhere I want to go I want to go with her. Everywhere I've been, I want to go back, with her.

Asking Kevyn to marry me was the easiest thing I've ever done. Was it nerve-racking? Yes. Was I scared a little? Yes. But it was so easy to ask the lady I already knew was my soulmate to be my wife. I can honestly say I never once second guessed my decision to ask her. The only thing I second guessed was how I was going to do it. If you know Kevyn, you know she goes big, or she goes home. I knew she had high expectations and I also knew I'm not exactly the most creative person in the world, and I didn't want to let her down.

For months I contemplated elaborate ways to ask her to marry me. I thought about YouTube videos, surprise plane rides, boat rides, renting out theaters, and even flash mobs. I was driving myself insane thinking about it and yet over and over again I kept coming back to the same conclusion. Dan (kevyn's dad) and others I talked to about my ideas for engagement told me over and over again "the engagement itself is the special occasion" and so my elaborate ideas didn't make much since because they had nothing to do with me and Kevyn or our story. So, I thought to myself, "how did WE happen?" Obviously its a long story, but I've told Kevyn a million times I knew I loved her the first day we met and I knew we would stay together forever after our first date. Our first date was, in my opinion, PERFECT. We ate the best food in town, cuddled under the stars at the most romantic spot in town, and then went to probably one of the most fun places in town, the Alamo Drafthouse. Recreating this night became the obvious way for me to ask her to marry me, and thats exactly what I did. And on that night, as I dropped to one knee and looked at her face I saw her glowing and I knew it was the right decision. She was beautiful and perfect and I am so proud to call her mine. She said yes.. and the story continues to Act 2 (the wedding).

Heaven, I’m in Heaven

**Note: Play the music in this video while you read the post**

In an unexpected twist of fate, I found my DRESS this weekend and it’s gorgeous!

I had just finished getting my oil changed when Deanna, my gal pal and oh so helpful wedding planner, called me and told me she was working a bridal event downtown called Brides Against Breast Cancer.

She said I should come check it out, and I thought to myself well I’m not in dress shape yet but sure why the heck not. So I called my mom and Becky (Josh’s mom) and asked if they wanted to go. Luckily both were available, and we had a blast. 

With Deanna’s help and input from the moms, I tried on between 12-15 dresses. 

We were finally able to narrow it down to two and then we decided one was unbeatable -- nontraditional, Spanish and PERFECT :) It still needs alterations, but we walked away with it for a great price and it all went to a great cause. 

I thought to myself, isn’t it awesome how God works? I’ve been worrying and worrying about my budget, but it’s all going to work out. I just need to keep praying and keep planning.

Oh, I forgot to mention while we were there, I won a raffle for two free wedding bands! When I heard my name, I was in the middle of trying on a dress and we all went running to collect our winnings. 

The experience was funny, fun and so memorable. The best part is it wasn’t like that show “Say Yes to the Dress” - no drama, and three hours later we’re walking away with the perfect dress at a fantastic price and two FREE wedding bands!

I don’t know what’s next, all I know is we are well on our way to a wedding :) !

2+7

I always thought it was 27, but the reality is it’s 2+7. Those are the numbers that surround my life. Those are the numbers that surround my love with Josh. It’s never been more clear to me than now, at 3 a.m. 

Josh first asked me to “change my Facebook status” on May 27 and officially become his girlfriend. I don’t know if he specifically chose the day because of the significance of the number 27 in my life or if the cards just happened to fall in the right spots and it was au naturale.

Something just tells me it was God. 

Before I met Josh, the number 27 was the age I thought something big or devastating would be happening. My grandmother died of Leukemia when she was 27 and my dad died in a car wreck when he was 27, but now that I think about it, I was born on 7-2 and may have broken the cycle. 

When we marry, Josh will be 27 and the date will be 2-25 which adds up to 27. The weirdest part is we didn’t plan for it. The 25th happens to fall on a Saturday, which ends up being the perfect day to get married.

And so, it only seems fitting for us to have seven bridesmaids and seven groomsmen. It’s such and odd number, but it’s perfect. This is a decision I’ve been struggling with for many reasons because I have so many close friends and people I want to be a part of the BIG DAY, and it’s hard to narrow it to a number like 3 or 4. I admire those who do it because surely it “looks better at the altar,” but this balance helps me see the clarity of my 2+7 relationship with the man I’m going to spend the rest of my life with. 

I’ve always worried about what other people may think and have even been guilty myself of seeing those brides who have many, many girls serving for them in weddings and thought wow, that can’t be special, but it is. It’s like in the movie “27 dresses” - see, there it is again - when at the end Kathryn Heigl is explaining why she’s standing up for these friends of hers she says “Someday, it'll be my day and then all those people will be there for me.” Each one of these ladies have a special significance in my life and so I decided I don’t care what other people think. I’m just going to do what feels right to me....it just so happens what’s right is 2(me + josh) + 7(our wedding party).

Meet me in LOVE

It was the name of the first song we listened to, he and I. The first night we met it went something like this  -- It was a hot summer night in May. I was just coming home from a girls fishing trip in Rockport, and Josh was returning from a day at the lake with friends. Bert and Beau, our mutual friends, invited me to have dinner with them at Chuy's and have a game night afterward. I couldn't refuse because game nights are my favorite. So I went and I fell in love...

When I first saw him, I turned red and tried not to look directly at him because I thought he'd see right through me. He was the most gorgeous person I'd ever met.  For some reason when we sat a full table I tried to sit as far away as I could, but that didn't stop him. Josh being the sweet, charming character he is spoke to me from across the table and asked me what I was going to order. "The Lite Plate," I responded ..haha... as if there were any other choice. Josh ordered the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom...yes that's a real dish. When the food arrived, from across the table, he said, "Do you want to try I bite of mine?" I accepted. He handed a forkful to someone who then handed it to me. I took a bite. It was spicy and made me hot and uncomfortable which, in all actuality, captured my feelings that night.

After dinner we all got in our cars and headed to Josh's apartment to play board games. About eight of us gathered around the table, drank coffee and played games. I sat across from Josh. I finally looked up as I laughed at someone's joke, comment or story and we locked eyes. I'm not kidding when I say TIME STOOD STILL and it was like everything was paused ( at least for me) ..unreal. It was such a cool moment. One by one people began to leave and pretty soon it was just me and Josh playing Boggle, talking about World War II, planes, Garth Brooks and the song "Meet me in love." I had just finished writing  paper about "Troyal Garth Brooks" and Seth (my brother) showed me this song. Not even thinking about it I asked do you want to hear it....it's the BEST song in the world. I found it online and began playing it and as brooks sang the words I began turning red only this time I couldn't hide it because it was just him and me. After the song I saw it was 2 a.m. and I knew it was time to go. So I told him thanks for hosting and it was really nice to meet him and how much fun it was. He reached over to his desk and handed me a BUSINESS CARD...hahaha...so cheesy - and said would you like to go to lunch sometime? Of course I said yes and handed him one of my business cards, not to be outdone. I smiled the whole way home. When I got home and went to bed I was so happy and still thinking about him so I sent him a little text message that read.."I got home safely, in case you were wondering." He replied "I was. I'm glad. Goodnight."

Now, we're happily engaged and I'll be blogging through the wedding planning and recalling little bits and pieces of our story. It's going to be a hodge podge of posts, but you're sure to never be bored. Also, this is not a blog just for the wedding...the wedding is just my springboard. You can expect to hear from me quite often. So please take a seat and enjoy. Leave your feedback, comments and thoughts as you wish. Thanks for reading!